Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski Not Attending This Week’s Patriots OTAs

BOSTON (CBS) — The Patriots returned to Foxboro on Monday, but once again, Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski are not joining them.

After attending last week’s mandatory minicamp, the QB and tight end are sitting out this week’s four OTA sessions at Gillette Stadium. Brady and Gronkowski also skipped out the first seven weeks of New England’s offseason program this summer.

After taking part in mandatory minicamp last week, #Patriots Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski are not slated to be part of the final few OTAs (one of which is a field trip) this week, I’m told. See ‘em in July.

When chatting with reporters last Thursday, Brady cited “personal reasons” for missing previous sessions and would not commit to showing up this week.

“Just enjoying my time with my family, bringing my kids to school, supporting my family the best I can,” Brady told the MMQB’s Albert Breer. “They’ve been supporting me. It goes both ways. I wish I could be in five different places at one time, but that’s not life. I’ve enjoyed it. I’m never going to look back and regret spending time with my wife and my kids, and being a part of their life.

“I mean, I’m trying to get to ready to play, doing whatever I can do to get ready to play,” Brady continued. “I love this team, I love this organization, and I try to be a good example.”

As for Gronkowski, The Athletic’s Jeff Howe reports his decision to stay away is to avoid risking an injury before finalizing a new contract with the team:

Brady planned to make this decision over the weekend. As for Gronk, I got the impression earlier in the offseason he didn’t want to risk an injury at the voluntary workouts before finalizing his contract, which obviously hasn’t happened yet. https://t.co/AkXwyfe7v3